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At least 883 records · Page 49
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2004

First Terrestrial Soft X-ray Auroral Observation by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory

Northern auroral regions of Earth were imaged using the High-Resolution Camera (HRC-1) aboard the Chandra X-Ray Observatory (CXO) at 10 epochs (each approx.20 min duration) between mid-December 2003 and mid-April 2004. These observations aimed at searching for Earth s soft (<2 keV) x-ray aurora in a comparative study with Jupiter s x-ray aurora, where a pulsating x-ray "hot-spot" has been previously observed by Chandra. The first Chandra soft x-ray observations of Earth s aurora show that it is highly variable (intense arcs, multiple arcs, diffuse patches, at times absent). In at least one of the observations an isolated blob of emission is observed near the expected cusp location. A fortuitous overflight of DMSP satellite F13 provided SSJ/4 energetic particle measurements above a bright arc seen by Chandra on 24 January 2004, 20:01-20:22 UT. A model of the emissions expected strongly suggests that the observed soft x-ray signal is produced by electron bremsstrahlung.

Bhardwaj, Anil↗
NASA NTRS2006

Evolving EO-1 Sensor Web Testbed Capabilities in Pursuit of GEOSS

A viewgraph presentation to evolve sensor web capabilities in pursuit of capabilities to support Global Earth Observing System of Systems (GEOSS) is shown. The topics include: 1) Vision to Enable Sensor Webs with "Hot Spots"; 2) Vision Extended for Communication/Control Architecture for Missions to Mars; 3) Key Capabilities Implemented to Enable EO-1 Sensor Webs; 4) One of Three Experiments Conducted by UMBC Undergraduate Class 12-14-05 (1 - 3); 5) Closer Look at our Mini-Rovers and Simulated Mars Landscae at GSFC; 6) Beginning to Implement Experiments with Standards-Vision for Integrated Sensor Web Environment; 7) Goddard Mission Services Evolution Center (GMSEC); 8) GMSEC Component Catalog; 9) Core Flight System (CFS) and Extension for GMSEC for Flight SW; 10) Sensor Modeling Language; 11) Seamless Ground to Space Integrated Message Bus Demonstration (completed December 2005); 12) Other Experiments in Queue; 13) Acknowledgements; and 14) References.

Mandi, Dan↗
NASA NTRS2006

X-ray Emission from Millisecond Pulsars

Isolated (solitary or non-accreting) millisecond pulsars with observed X-ray emission can be divided in two distinct groups: those emitting nonthermal (magnetospheric) radiation and pulsars with the bulk of X-rays of a thermal origin, presumably emitted from small hot spots around the magnetic poles on the neutron star surface (polar caps). I will discuss properties of X-ray emission detected with Chandra and XMM-Newton from a number of millisecond pulsars, with emphasis on those of the thermal component, and compare them with predictions of radio pulsar models.

Zavlin, Vyacheslav↗
NASA NTRS2006

Comparison of Event Detection Methods for Centralized Sensor Networks

The development of an Integrated Vehicle Health Management (IVHM) for space vehicles has become a great concern. Smart Sensor Networks is one of the promising technologies that are catching a lot of attention. In this paper, we propose to a qualitative comparison of several local event (hot spot) detection algorithms in centralized redundant sensor networks. The algorithms are compared regarding their ability to locate and evaluate the event under noise and sensor failures. The purpose of this study is to check if the ratio performance/computational power of the Mote Fuzzy Validation and Fusion algorithm is relevant compare to simpler methods.

Sauvageon, Julien↗
NASA NTRS1994

(abstract) Mount Rainier: New Remote Sensing Observations of a Decade Volcano

Mount Rainier was selected as a Decade Volcano by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior. The purpose of this selection is to focus scientific and public attention on Mount Rainier during the current decade, the United Nations-designated International Decade of Natural Hazard Reduction. The Mount Rainier science plan calls for remote sensing surveys to monitor the volcano. To date, we have conducted airborne surveys with visible and near-infrared, thermal infrared, and interferometric radar instruments. Our preliminary analysis of some night-time time-series thermal infrared survey data sets of the summit suggests that, aside from seasonal variations in snow cover, there have been no qualitative changes in the size or pattern of the summit hot spots. Day-time airborne surveys were done to record the current surface appearance of the volcano and map hydrothermal alteration in the summit region. An interferometric radar survey yielded a high-resolution digital elevation model (DEM) which serves as a base for the registration of the other remote sensing data sets. More importantly, the DEM documents the current topography of glaciers and valleys. Planned biannual radar survey of mount rainier will produce a data set from which seasonal changes in glacier and valley topography can be characterized. Such characterization is essential if we are to recognize geothermally induced changes in snow and ice cover.

infrared radar interferometry glaciers seasonal va↗
NASA NTRS1999

Excitation Spectroscopy as a Tool of Microelectronics Reliability

The main objective of this task was to experimentally determine the feasibility of using a non-contact IR emission spectroscopy technique to measure the hot spot channel temperature of sub-micron GaAs metal semiconductor field effect transistor gate during operation.

Excitation Spectroscopy Microspot Temperature Asse↗
NASA NTRS2007

Use of Satellite Remote Sensing Data in the Mapping of Global Landslide Susceptibility

Satellite remote sensing data has significant potential use in analysis of natural hazards such as landslides. Relying on the recent advances in satellite remote sensing and geographic information system (GIS) techniques, this paper aims to map landslide susceptibility over most of the globe using a GIs-based weighted linear combination method. First , six relevant landslide-controlling factors are derived from geospatial remote sensing data and coded into a GIS system. Next, continuous susceptibility values from low to high are assigned to each of the six factors. Second, a continuous scale of a global landslide susceptibility index is derived using GIS weighted linear combination based on each factor's relative significance to the process of landslide occurrence (e.g., slope is the most important factor, soil types and soil texture are also primary-level parameters, while elevation, land cover types, and drainage density are secondary in importance). Finally, the continuous index map is further classified into six susceptibility categories. Results show the hot spots of landslide-prone regions include the Pacific Rim, the Himalayas and South Asia, Rocky Mountains, Appalachian Mountains, Alps, and parts of the Middle East and Africa. India, China, Nepal, Japan, the USA, and Peru are shown to have landslide-prone areas. This first-cut global landslide susceptibility map forms a starting point to provide a global view of landslide risks and may be used in conjunction with satellite-based precipitation information to potentially detect areas with significant landslide potential due to heavy rainfall. 1

Hong, Yang↗
NASA NTRS2006

Fuel-air mixing apparatus for reducing gas turbine combustor exhaust emissions

A fuel-air mixer for use in a combustion chamber of a gas turbine engine is provided. The fuel air mixing apparatus comprises an annular fuel injector having a plurality of discrete plain jet orifices, a first swirler wherein the first swirler is located upstream from the fuel injector and a second swirler wherein the second swirler is located downstream from the fuel injector. The plurality of discrete plain jet orifices are situated between the highly swirling airstreams generated by the two radial swirlers. The distributed injection of the fuel between two highly swirling airstreams results in rapid and effective mixing to the desired fuel-air ratio and prevents the formation of local hot spots in the combustor primary zone. A combustor and a gas turbine engine comprising the fuel-air mixer of the present invention are also provided as well as a method using the fuel-air mixer of the present invention.

Zupanc, Frank J.↗
NASA NTRS2007

Image and information management system

A system and methods through which pictorial views of an object's configuration, arranged in a hierarchical fashion, are navigated by a person to establish a visual context within the configuration. The visual context is automatically translated by the system into a set of search parameters driving retrieval of structured data and content (images, documents, multimedia, etc.) associated with the specific context. The system places hot spots, or actionable regions, on various portions of the pictorials representing the object. When a user interacts with an actionable region, a more detailed pictorial from the hierarchy is presented representing that portion of the object, along with real-time feedback in the form of a popup pane containing information about that region, and counts-by-type reflecting the number of items that are available within the system associated with the specific context and search filters established at that point in time.

Robertson, Tina L.↗
NASA NTRS2007

First Terrestrial Soft X-Ray Auroral Observation by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory

Northern auroral regions of Earth were imaged with energetic photons in the 0.1-10keV range using the High-Resolution Camera (HRC-I) aboard the Chandra X-ray Observatory at 10 epochs (each approx.20 min duration) between mid- December 2003 and mid-April 2004. These observations aimed at searching for Earth's soft (< 2 keV) X-ray aurora in a comparative study with Jupiter's X-ray aurora, where a pulsating X-ray "hot-spot" has been previously observed by Chandra. The first Chandra soft X-ray observations of Earth's aurora show that it is highly variable 0ntense arcs, multiple arcs, diffuse patches, at times absent). In at least one of the observations an isolated blob of emission is observed near the expected cusp location. A fortuitous overflight of DMSP satellite F13 provided SSJ/4 energetic particle measurements above a bright arc seen by Chandra on 24 January 2004, 20:01-20:22 UT. A model of the emissions expected strongly suggests that the observed soft X-ray signal is bremsstrahlung and characteristic K-shell line emissions of nitrogen and oxygen in the atmosphere produced by electrons.

Bhardwaj, Anil↗
NASA NTRS2008

Spectral Separation of the Turbofan Engine Coherent Combustion Noise Component

The core noise components of a dual spool turbofan engine (Honeywell TECH977) were separated by the use of a coherence function. A source location technique based on adjusting the time delay between the combustor pressure sensor signal and the far-field microphone signal to maximize the coherence and remove as much variation of the phase angle with frequency as possible was used. While adjusting the time delay to maximize the coherence and minimize the cross spectrum phase angle variation with frequency, the discovery was made that for the 130 microphone a 90.027 ms time shift worked best for the frequency band from 0 to 200 Hz while a 86.975 ms time shift worked best for the frequency band from 200 to 400 Hz. Since the 0 to 200 Hz band signal took more time to travel the same distance, it is slower than the 200 to 400 Hz band signal. This suggests the 0 to 200 Hz coherent cross spectral density band is partly due to indirect combustion noise attributed to hot spots interacting with the turbine. The signal in the 200 to 400 Hz frequency band is attributed mostly to direct combustion noise.

Miles, Jeffrey Hilton↗
NASA NTRS2008

Global Geologic Mapping of Io: Preliminary Results

A new global geologic map of Jupiter's volcanic moon, Io is being prepared, with the focus being on completion of a draft map by July 2008. Here initial results of the mapping are reported: a preliminary distribution of material units in terms of areas and a visual representation. Additionally, the mapping hopes to address some of the problems in Io geology. Thus far it has been discovered that Io's surface is dominated by plains material, thought to consist of Io's silicate crust covered by pyroclastic deposits and lava flows of silicate and sulfur-bearing composition. Many plains areas contain flow fields that cannot be mapped separately due to a lack of resolution or modification by alteration processes. Discrete lava flows and flow fields are the next most abundant unit, with bright (sulfur?) flows in greater abundance than dark (silicate?) flows. The source of most of Io's heat flow, the paterae, are the least abundant unit in terms of areal extent.Upon completion of the draft map for peer review, it will be used to investigate several specific questions about the geological evolution of Io that previously could not be well addressed, including: comparison of the areas versus the heights of Ionian mountains to assess their stability and evolution; correlation and comparison of Galileo Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer and Photopolarimeter-Radiometer hot spot locations with the mapped location of dark versus bright lava flows and patera floors to assess any variations in the types of sources for Io's active volcanism; and the creation of a global inventory of the areal coverage of dark and bright laval flows to assess the relative importance of sulfur versus silicate volcanism in resurfacing Io, and to assess whether there are regional concentrations of either style of volcanism that may have implications on interior processes.

Williams, David A.↗
NASA NTRS2006

The Relationship of Forest Fires Detected by MODIS and SRTM Derived Topographic Features in Central Siberia

Fires are a common occurrence in the Siberian boreal forest. The MOD14 Thermal anomalies product of the Terra MODIS Moderate Resolution Spectroradiometer) product set is designed to detect thermal anomalies (i.e. hotspots or fires) on the Earth's surface. Recent field studies showed a dependence of fire occurrence on topography. In this study MODIS thermal anomaly data and SRTM topography data were merged and analyzed to evaluate if forest fires are more likely to occur at certain combinations of elevation, slope and aspect. Using the satellite data over a large area can lead to better understanding how topography and forest fires are related. The study area covers a 2.5 Million krn(exp 2) portion of the Central Siberian southern taiga from 72 deg to 110 deg East and from 50 deg to 60 deg North. About 57% of the study area is forested and 80% of the forest grows between 200 and 1000 m. Forests with pine (Pinus sylvestris), larch (Larix sibirica, L. gmelinii), Siberian pine (Pinus sibirica), spruce (Picea obovata.) and fir (Abies sibirica) cover most of the landscape. Deciduous stands with birch (Betula pendula, B. pubescens) and aspen (Populus tremula) cover the areas of lower elevation in this region. The climate of this area is distinctly continental with long, cold winters and short hot summers. The tree line in this part of the world is around 1500 m in elevation with alpine tundra, snow and ice fields and rock outcrops extending up to over 3800 m. A 500 m resolution landcover map was developed using 2001 MODIS MOD13 Normalized Vegetation Index (NDVI) and Middle Infrared (MIR) products for seven 16-day periods. The classification accuracy was over 87%. The SRTM version 2 data, which is distributed in 1 degree by 1 degree tiles were mosaiced using the ENVI software. In this study, only those MODIS pixels were used that were flagged as "nominal or high confidence fire" by the MODIS fire product team. Using MODIS data from the years 2000 to 2005 along with the improved Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) version 2 data at 100 m resolution, the distribution of hot spots was examined by elevation, slope and aspect as well as by forest type. The results show that more forest area burns at lower elevations but a larger percentage of the available forest area burns at higher elevations. This is probably because steep slopes occur at higher elevations. Fires are only more common on slopes with a southern exposure if the slope is steeper than 15 degrees. The next step in this study will be to monitor areas where the risk of fire is high (steep slopes with a southern exposure) and to refine this method by incorporating anthropogenic features for more accurate fire disturbance monitoring.

Ranson, Jon K.↗
NASA NTRS2005

Discovery of a 105-ms X-ray Pulsar in Kesteven-79: On the Nature of Compact Central Objects in Supernova Remnants

We report the discovery of 105-ms X-ray pulsations from the compact central object (CCO) in the supernova remnant \snr\ using data acquired with the {\it Newton X-Ray Multi-Mirror Mission). Using two observations of the pulsar taken 6-days apart we derive an upper limit on its spin-down rate of $\dot P < 9 \times 10"{-14}$-s-~$~{-l)$,a nd find no evidence for binary orbital motion. The implied energy loss rate is $\dot E < 3 \times 10A{36)$-ergs-s$A{-1)$, polar magnetic field strength is $B-{\rm p) < 3 \times 10A{12)$-G, and spin-down age is $\tau > 18.5$-kyr. The latter exceeds the remnant's estimated age, suggesting that the pulsar was born spinning near its current period. The X-ray spectrum of \psr\ is best characterized as a blackbody of temperature $kT {BB) =, 0.43\pm0.02$ keV, radius $R-{BB) \approx 1.3$-km, and $~I{\rm bol) = 5.2 \times 10A{33)$ ergs-sSA{-1)$ at $d = 7.1$-kpc. The sinusoidal light curve is modulated with a pulsed fraction of $>45\%$, suggestive of a small hot spot on the surface of the rotating neutron star. The lack of a discernible pulsar wind nebula is consistent with an interpretation of \psr\ as a rotation-powered pulsar whose spin-down luminosity falls below the empirical threshold for generating bright wind nebulae, $\dot E-{\rm c) = 4 \times 10A{36)$-ergs-sSA{-I)$. The age discrepancy suggests that its $\dot E$ has always been below $\dot E c$, perhaps a distinguishing property of the CCOs. Alternatively, the X-ray spectrum of \psr\ suggests a low-luminosity AXP, but the weak inferred $B-{\rm p)$ field is incompatible with a magnetar theory of its X-ray luminosity. The ordinary spin parameters discovered from \psr\ highlight the inability of existing theories to explain the high luminosities and temperatures of CCO thermal X-ray spectra.

Gotthelf, E. V.↗
NASA NTRS2009

Carbon XANES Data from Six Aerogel Picokeystones Cut from the Top and Bottom Sides of the Stardust Comet Sample Tray

Great care and a large effort was made to minimize the amount of organic matter contained within the flight aerogel used to collect Comet 81P/Wild 2 samples. Even so, by the very nature of the production process and silica aerogel s affinity for volatile organics keeping silica aerogel free from organics is a monumental task. Silica aerogel from three production batches was flown on the Stardust sample return mission. All 3 types had layered densities varying from 5mg/ml to 50 mg/ml where the densest aerogel was farthest away from the collection area. A 2 step gelation process was used to make the flight aerogel and organics used in this process were tetraethylorthosilicate, ethanol and acetonitrile. Both ammonium hydroxide and nitric acid were also used in the aerogel production process. The flight aerogel was baked at JPL at 300 C for 72 hours, most of the baking was done at atmosphere but twice a day the oven was pumped to 10 torr for hour [1]. After the aerogel was baked it was stored in a nitrogen purged cabinet until flight time. One aerogel cell was located in the SRC away from any sample collection area as a witness to possible contamination from out gassing of the space craft, re-entry gases and any other organic encounter. This aerogel was aerogel used in the interstellar collection sample tray and is the least dense of the 3 batches of aerogel flown. Organics found in the witness tile include organics containing Si-CH3 bonds, amines and PAHS. Besides organic contamination, hot spots of calcium were reported in the flight aerogel. Carbonates have been detected in comet 81P/Wild2 samples . During preflight analyses, no technique was used to analyze for carbonates in aerogel. To determine if the carbonates found in 81P/Wild2 samples were from the comet, it is necessary to analyze the flight aerogel for carbonate as well as for organics.

Wirick, S.↗
NASA NTRS2008

Electronic Escape Trails for Firefighters

A proposed wireless-communication and data-processing system would exploit recent advances in radio-frequency identification devices (RFIDs) and software to establish information lifelines between firefighters in a burning building and a fire chief at a control station near but outside the building. The system would enable identification of trails that firefighters and others could follow to escape from the building, including identification of new trails should previously established trails become blocked. The system would include a transceiver unit and a computer at the control station, portable transceiver units carried by the firefighters in the building, and RFID tags that the firefighters would place at multiple locations as they move into and through the building (see figure). Each RFID tag, having a size of the order of a few centimeters, would include at least standard RFID circuitry and possibly sensors for measuring such other relevant environmental parameters as temperature, levels of light and sound, concentration of oxygen, concentrations of hazardous chemicals in smoke, and/or levels of nuclear radiation. The RFID tags would be activated and interrogated by the firefighters and control-station transceivers. Preferably, RFID tags would be configured to communicate with each other and with the firefighters units and the control station in an ordered sequence, with built-in redundancy. In a typical scenario, as firefighters moved through a building, they would scatter many RFID tags into smoke-obscured areas by use of a compressed-air gun. Alternatively or in addition, they would mark escape trails by dropping RFID tags at such points of interest as mantraps, hot spots, and trail waypoints. The RFID tags could be of different types, operating at different frequencies to identify their functions, and possibly responding by emitting audible beeps when activated by signals transmitted by transceiver units carried by nearby firefighters.

Jorgensen, Charles↗